Sunday, September 27, 2009

adventures in harness making: chloe

Sometimes I get asked about Baxter's duds by folks interested in one for their doxie, and I am hesitant to say I make them because I am a stickler for fit. In this age of instant gratification, surely nobody would be willing to put up with my futzing. Nobody would get the work involved in creating a well built, fitted harness and nobody would be willing to let me have free reign once the primary fabric is chosen. And realistically, I figure everyone would be willing and able to sew their own, right? Secretly I thought it would be fun to make duds for other doxies, but I had a million reasons why the pursuit wouldn't work.

Enter my new friend Chloe and her mom, brave souls with a super doxie blog, willing to trade a piece of her cool doxie art for a snazzy new harness. With preliminary measurements in hand, I made a prototype and sent it to Chloe's mom for markup and pictures so I could see how the vest fit. Baxter was all the none wiser that such activity was going on, until a few days later when the prototype came back.

Baxter was entranced by what he could tell was Eau de Chloe.

Little did our tiny wolf know at first sniff that his involvement would be even greater. As the only wiener dog available in the house, Baxter was the obvious choice when it came time to see how the finished product fit. Chloe's mom had chosen a sweet retro corduroy, perfect for her little black and tan girl, but hardly a manly print for oversized fit model Baxter. "Do I have to?", his eyes seem to plead. "Duk duk might see me."

Our adventure in custom harness making ended with the arrival this past weekend of our own happy package, courtesy of Chloe and her mom. Words aren't enough to say how happy we are to add this to our growing collection of doxie art, but here is Baxter, mugging it up as if to say, "Hey, check this out", and matching the pose from Chloe's mom's artwork.

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comments:

Alicia
said...

What a beautiful vest! Baxter, obviously confident in his masculinity, looks quite handsome in a floral! Just remember how hot Tom Selleck looks in those wild floral Hawaiian print shirts. Isn't Baxter a four legged Magnum P.I.?

I'm working on a fall jacket for Oskar. I've visually deconstructed his Lands' End coat for the pattern. This will look "home sewn", but should work for our cooler times. Besides, this shows my husband that he didn't waste his money on a Brother sewing machine that is much smarter than I am!

Poor Baxter. When he gets advances from the other guys at meetups next time, guess we'll know why. Nice harness though! Maggie would LOVE it. And chloejessica has such nice art. I feel so bad that I didn't get a chance to feature it a while back. Noticed some of those nice paintings in the recent video from South Florida Doxie Rescue this last weekend.

oooh do share pics when you're done. What does the lands end jacket look like?

Maggie, I'm wondering what a vest would look like on you with your luscious long hair...I see you in a nice shimmery hand dyed velvet or classy sateen for all your upcoming holiday events...something that screams Jackie O. Well, Jackie would never scream, so let's say...coo...!! :)

Maggie and Joey also wanted to say that Baxter needs a cute little sister. Not just for model time, but it would be a great outlet for his sew-master mom, and to have someone to chase bunnies with and to rest his head on.

Chloe's mom has great art. We have been admiring it for quite a while. That was a great trade you made. I saw her harness and it looks gorgeous on her. I'm really surprised Baxter could fit in it...she is very tiny.Snuggles,Twix

oh no Baxter didn't fit in Chloe's harness at all! You should have seen the front - I couldn't even get the velcro to touch! But I did want to make sure everything rested okay from the back and shoulder perspective, which is why Baxter had to have his bout with cross dressing.

Ladies n gents, I am here to say I'd be happy to work for pay cuz I gotta feed my Joann habit somehow and actually it's been fun. If you're interested, email me at kalyxcraftopia@gmail.com with a pic of your pup and I'll rustle up some details on what I need, pricing, etc. It's all still a learning experience. Hope to hear from you and can't wait to see your hounds! :)

oh, and the thought of house buddy occasionally crosses our mind, but with Baxter being a perfect gent (no marking no chewing no unapproved jumping) and the whack of double vet bills keeps everything in perspective. Did think maybe of fostering one day as a test run. But we just got all these rugs and a new sofa! One day...!